


what starts on the side of the road probably wont end there

by LightofDay



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Police, Awkward Flirting, Clexa, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-08 13:27:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7759528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightofDay/pseuds/LightofDay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being pulled over is absolutely the last thing Clarke needs today, but when she sees the officer walking towards her, she figures maybe its exactly what she needs. </p><p>or </p><p>Clarke drools over Officer Woods and through awkward flirting, inadvertently flirts her way out of a ticket and maybe even into Lexa's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. bad day, hot cop

_“Fuck, fuck, shit, fuck”_ the litany of profanity poured out of Clarke’s mouth, weaving an invisible tapestry of obscenity as she pressed harder on the gas. She hadn’t meant to sleep in late - she really, really hadn’t - but she did and now she was very close to being late for work. Normally she wouldn’t have worried about being a little late but with a big investor visiting the gallery, one who had hinted at in interest in her work, this was the one day she couldn’t afford to be late. 

Her eyes spotted a police car driving on the opposite side of the road, and she automatically flicked them down to her dashboard to see if her speedometer was working today. It was, and she flung out a chorus of profanity as she saw the hand hovering over 60. It was a 45 road, but as she looked up anxiously, she saw the police car continue going in the opposite direction and breathed a sigh of relief. She refocused on the road in front of her, maintaining her speed and debating the best way to grovel in the likely event she was late. It wasn’t until a minute later when she checked her rearview mirror that she saw it; the police car she had seen before had evidently turned around and was pulling up behind her.

 _“FUCK”_ she spat out, followed by a groan as the cars lights lit up and she reluctantly pulled over to the side of the road. She watched as the officer - a woman with shining dark hair and the most confident gait she’d ever seen, _good lord_ \- approached. She took in a deep breath, exhaling shakily as she waited for the inevitable. Clarke had never been pulled over before, so tv and movies was all she had to go on, but she was more worried about this making her any later for work than she was already bound to be than a ticket.

“Good Morning” a voice came through her open window as the officer leaned down to flick her eyes through the car quickly before focusing back on Clarke. 

“Right back at ya” Clarke let out a little breathlessly, pushing her aviator sunglasses up onto the crown of her blonde head before offering the police officer - a truly spectacular subject, in Clarke’s totally 100% professional opinion as an artist - a rueful smile. Clarke gave herself a mental high five - the cool type, of course - at the small, involuntary quirk of the officers lips at her greeting. Clarke let her eyes trail to the name on her uniform, before snapping them back up with a faint dusting of pink across her cheeks as the officer spoke again. 

“Do you know why I pulled you over this morning?” the officer asked, voice a hint softer as she roamed the blonde girls face. Clarke fought back a laugh at the question, because until that moment she was sure that was a purely Hollywood invention and it sounded so cliche, but she didn’t want to seem rude. Still suppressing laughter, she crunched her nose up and glanced at her dashboard before meeting the officers gaze though the tinted aviators that allowed just enough light through to see that the officers eyes were green. 

“Was I speeding” Clarke let out, nose still scrunched as she looked properly abashed at her mishap. She saw the officers eyes stare at her for a moment before blinking quickly and answering. 

“Yes” the officer - Woods, Clarke recalled - replied, sounding like she was trying to inject some authority into her voice. “Where are you headed?”

Clarke answered quickly “Work” before quirking her lips and continuing “sorry about that, my speedometer has been kinda … well, busted lately and I need to go have it checked”. She gave Officer Woods a small smile and shrug. 

“Right” Officer Woods responded gruffly in a way that made Clarke let out an almost indiscernible giggle. Almost being the operative word, as Officer Woods flushed ever so slightly at the sound and the appearance of the blonde biting her lip lightly to stifle it as she stared at her steering wheel. “Well, I’m going to need your license, registration, and insurance card” the officer finished quickly, letting out a small cough. 

Clarke sighed understandingly before murmuring a quick acknowledgment as she dug the papers out of her glove box and handed them over the officer. Officer Woods watched as the woman fumbled with retrieving her papers, obviously flustered; she couldn’t help but hope that she was the reason for the blonde’s flustered behavior. She took the papers from the blonde carefully, before examining them for a moment as she tried to regain her composure.

“Is this address here” Officer Woods’ eyes roamed over the paper “479 Arcadia Street, apartment 13A, still your correct address?”. 

Clarke nodded her head mutely before following up with a simple “Yes” as she watched the officer look over the paper. Clarke itched to have Officer Woods’ sunglasses off so she could see the exact color of green her eyes were - for purely aesthetic, artistic purposes, of course.

“Alright … Miss Griffin” Officer Woods let out a huff of breath as she looked up from Clarke’s license, attempting to conceal a sigh as she watched the blonde observe her. 

“Clarke” the girl rushed in “I prefer to go by Clarke” she finished, watching as Officer Woods closed her eyes briefly and inhaled deeply.

The Officer nodded, “Clarke” she corrected herself, “I’ll just take these and run your information real quick. I’ll be right back”. 

Clarke nodded understandingly, before offering the officer a small smile and wave of her hand, and “I’ll be waiting” slipped out before she could stop herself. Clarke mentally kicked herself, but stopped once she saw the officer still at words before forcing herself to move forward again. Clarke looked at the time and cursed some more, briefly wondering if the Guinness Book of World Records had a record for he amount of profanity a single person could spew in a given time frame. She was sure if there was a record, she’d beat it easily. Groaning in defeat, she turned off the car before reaching for her phone to dial her boss; he was going to have her head on a platter for this. She kept her eyes on the rearview mirror as she cringed in preparation as she waited for someone to pick up. She relaxed when one of the more lenient supervisors picked up, eyes still fixed on Officer Woods through the rearview mirror. She quickly explained her reasoning for running a bit late, huffing at her supervisors laughter, before calming down once he explained that her boss was out picking up the investor from the airport and traffic had delayed them. She significantly perked up at that - at this rate neither her boss nor the investor would know how late she’d been. Murmuring a quick thank you, she hung up and watched as Officer Woods emerged from her vehicle. 

Officer Woods sauntered back over, swiping her hand back over her head as she placed her hat - a fucking _deputy hat_ \- on her head. Clarke gripped the wheel tightly as she pushed herself back into her seat letting out a soft _“fuck me”_ before relaxing to regain her wits. She looked up at Officer Woods after schooling her face into an acceptable expression - or as close to one as she could get considering the sheer magnetism the officer gave off. 

Officer Woods cleared her throat before handing the forms back to Clarke, and holding up a small slip of yellow paper. “Well Mi…Clarke” she stumbled over the blondes name, “I’ve given you a written warning, since you have no other violations and I’m sure you’d like to keep it that way.” Clarke nodded, thanking her gratefully. Officer Woods gave a small smile at the gratitude before continuing “You should definitely get that speedometer checked out as soon as possible though to prevent something like this from happening again”. Clarke gave a small nod of her head, though internally she was pretty sure she wouldn’t mind the officer pulling her over again. 

“Thank you Officer Woods” Clarke said, noticing the way the officers eyes flicked up to her face as she heard the blonde say her name for the first time. 

Officer Woods gave a small smile and said “No problem … Clarke. Have a good rest of the day”. 

Clarke opened her mouth to say the same, but instead let out a rushed “what do you prefer?” before mentally kicking herself - again - and hastily clarifying “name wise. Do you prefer to go by Officer Woods or is there some other name you prefer?”. Clarke watched as the officer froze and hesitated before responding. 

“Well” the officer stumbled before letting out a shaky “Lexa”. Clearing her throat she smirked for a moment before saying “But only by people I don’t currently have pulled over for outrageous driving infractions”. She watched as Clarke laughed, color touching her cheeks once more. 

“Well then” Clarke teased “I guess I’ll keep that in mind in case I ever see you somewhere not on the side of the road”. 

Lexa lifted a brow at Clarke’s boldness, but ultimately decided that she liked it as she let out a soft “I guess you should” before offering a smile and - was that a fucking _wink?_ \- and striding back to her car. Clarke huffed, before smiling giddily as she started her car and carefully maneuvered her way back on to the road, being extra mindful of her speed. 

Clarke knew she’d see Lexa again if she had any say in it - really, how many Lexa Woods’ could there be? Raven was going to flip over this, Clarke decided, as her lips formed the name “Lexa” over and over again as she resolved to ask Octavia - a friend that, luckily, was a dispatcher at the police station - what she knew about one Deputy Lexa Woods.


	2. the set-up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa can't catch a fucking break, Clarke just wants one shower where no one waltzes in on her, and Octavia plays matchmaker.

30 seconds. 

_30 fucking seconds._

That’s all it would have taken for Lexa to officially end her shift and go home, to have one day - just one day is all she asks - that’s actually good to her. 

One good day is all she wants, but it looks like today won’t be that day. No, today is just another almost - it was _almost_ a good day. Until the door at the employee exit at the station swung open, smacked her right in the nose, and caused the person walking through it to rush to help her. 

Which, since this is not a good day, obviously means the girl frantically trying to help slips and spills pipping hot coffee right down Lexa’s front. _Of course._

The spilt hot coffee isn’t what really bothers her - it’s really just an occupational hazard at this point. No, what’s really irritating is that she was _so close_ to having one of those golden good days - one of the rare occasions that sustained her through all the bad days, which there were more than enough of. 

Lexa shook her head to focus on the babbling girl in front of her firing off apologies interlaced with colorful expletives. A quick look was all it took to identify her as one of the few dispatchers the station had on staff - Octavia, if Lexa recalled correctly. 

“I’m alright” Lexa said, halting Octavia's increasingly creative language “it’s just coffee and I’m off shift anyway. No blood, no foul.” 

“This is what I get for trying to multitask” Octavia grumbled before breathing out an exaggerated sigh of relief “But I’m glad you’re ok!” Octavia continued more enthusiastically, fixing Lexa with an unusually bright smile that matched the equally unusual glint in her eye. 

Lexa gave her a cautionary nod before bidding her farewell and bursting out the doors without sparing the dispatcher another look. 

If she had, perhaps she would have seen the knowing look Octavia gave her.

* * *

She was minding her own business for fucks sake. 

_Showering._ She was fucking showering, minding her own damn business when Octavia crept into the bathroom like the weirdo without boundaries that she was and slapped a flyer up to the glass shower doors right as Clarke turned around from rinsing her hair. 

Bad news, the neighbors were definitely going to place a noise complaint. Good news? If anybody ever decided to do a remake of Psycho (which no one should, in Clarke’s humble opinion) she knew she could easily nab the role of Marion Crane. 

_“Jesus fuck_ , Octavia” Clarke screeched out once she regained her ability to sound human. 

_”Read. It.”_ Octavia demanded in her most intimidating voice. Clarke groaned in frustration, rubbing fog off the door to peer out and read what Octavia seemed to think was so important it couldn’t wait until she was out of the damn shower.

**The Arkadia Police Department Presents**  
**The Second Annual Community Potluck**   
**Saturday, September 3rd, 2016 4pm - 8pm**   
**Olde Towne Park Pavillion**

_Come support our local community and local enforcement with food, games, raffle prizes, and youth events for children 3-12!_

****  


Clarke gave Octavia a quizzical look at Octavia’s expectant silence. Octavia huffed, frustrated, before responding. “Community potluck Clarke! As in, the one event where police staff make it a point to socialize with regular people in an _unofficial capacity.”_ The emphasis on the last few words wasn’t lost on Clarke, who groaned.

“Look, yeah she’s spanking gorgeous O, but I don’t think she’s actually interested in me! It was just some harmless, fun flirting”. 

Octavia looked incredulous before smirking. “Oh really? You called me _gushing_ over her like a preteen with their first crush! You were glowing so brightly I ended up tripping and spilling coffee all over her because I could practically see the shine through the _phone.”_ Clarke blushed furiously at that, knowing that she was never going to live it down if the past week since the incident were any indication. 

“Yes, well, I -“ Clarke desperately attempted to scrape together the last remains of her defense before Octavia cut her off. 

“No.” Octavia growled out “You aren’t going to do this again. You obviously liked her, you think she’s cute, and there’s a damn good chance she thinks the same of you. I’m not asking you to marry the chick, _jesus_ Clarke, just go. Flirt. Have fun. Maybe get a date. Just get out of the damn apartment for something besides work or I swear I’ll - ”

“Ok, Ok” Clarke interrupted. “I’ll go. I promise to socialize and see where it goes but I make no promises beyond that”. Octavia clapped her hands together excitedly, grinning. 

“Good enough for me.” Octavia chirped. Clarke rolled her eyes fondly but gave Octavia a glare when she continued casually “Oh, by the way, you should prepare a dessert for me to bring.” 

“And why should I do that, O?” 

“Well…” Octavia hummed “Everyone at the station is supposed to bring something.” 

“So make something to bring yourself” Clarke retorted, earning a harsh snort from Octavia. 

“Yeah” Octavia replied sarcastically “because _that’s_ gonna happen. If I make it, I promise I will burn the entire kitchen faster than one of Raven’s experiments.” 

Clarke sighed. “Fine.” she said “I’ll make a damn dessert but it’s gonna be something you _hate_. 

Octavia gave a dramatic gasp and responded “You _wouldn’t.”_ before walking away and tossing Clarke a cheeky grin over her shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for the great feedback to the first chapter! It meant a lot and I was really excited to see the enthusiasm everyone had, which motivated me to get this out asap.
> 
> Let me know how you liked this one! Since I wasn't drawing on real life events it was a lot harder to do so hopefully it came out ok. It's definitely shorter than the last chapter and the next one, since it's meant to be a transition. 
> 
> You can see I set it up to 4 chapters. I may end up being 3 depending on how the next chapter (which will mostly be the potluck) goes but 4 is where it will be max if that one goes a little over.

**Author's Note:**

> This is moderately based on an encounter I had recently, so enjoy my pain. 
> 
> I do have a few ideas if the demand for more chapters is there - let me know on here or over at lexkruwontbackdown on tumblr. *UPDATE* by popular demand, this will continue! Stay tuned for the next installment!
> 
> If you're following my Clexa Sex Shop AU, I promise I haven't abandoned it, I just decided that I didn't like the way I wrote the first chapter and am deciding the best way to fix it that will be consistent with the rest of the chapters I have planned.


End file.
